NIE FEDER LAHM SCHULE 2

NIE FEDER LAHM SCHULE 2

(With interjections and explanatory footnotes by Alfred)

And on the eve before the party

People had already gathered

Clustered in the marquees’ shelter

Sheltering from the Irish summer

(‘Summer’ being ‘Irish Summer’)

Swapping jokes and telling stories

Just like at the Tower of Babel

After God had sent them packing.

Cousins meeting for the first time

Familiy and friends remeeting

Bonhomie and friendly laughter.

And as the day passed into darkness

Ruairí kept himself most busy

From the marquee to the kitchen

And the kitchen to the marquee

Bearing food and filling glasses

Walking a familiar pathway

Which proverbs tell us breeds contempt

The pride that comes before a tumble.

And as he reached the kitchen doorway

His eyes not fixed upon the pathway

An obstacle his foot encountered

Fixed and rigid by the doorway

Causing him to fall quite heavy

(‘Heavily’ is better English

But it doesn’t fit the metre).

‘Twas on his left knee he landed

Cracking ribs and skinning elbow.

Lying in the dark of evening

Feeling pain but mostly foolish

But not so foolish as to try to

Stand up on his feet unaided,

Knocked politely on the doorglass

Seeing there his nephew Mikey

Asked politely for assistance.

Mikey gazed into the darkness

Hearing voices disembodied

Hearing pleas for his assistance

But seeing only trees and twilight

Until he happened to glance downwards

Saw the figure of his uncle

Sprawled in seeming relaxation

On the ground outside the kitchen.

Erect again his wound he studied

Seeing only cuts and bruises

Hoping it was nothing graver

Critical or semi-fatal

Major, dire or consequential

(Please stop using that thesaurus)

Resolved to limp on through the evening.

But morning saw the knee most swollen

Not unlike a largish grapefruit

Or indeed a smallish melon

(well, a smallish watermelon

Or a normal cantaloupe which

Is much bigger than a grapefruit

So maybe we don’t mention grapefruit).